The Truth
by goldenrose72
Summary: Everyone knew Deathstroke and Nightwing had a past. They just didn't know the truth.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello There!**

 **I am Goldenrose, and it makes me exceedling happy that you are looking at my story. Please read and enjoy.**

 **I do ask one favour though. Do not judge me too much if the characters seem a little out of character, I am writing from my perspective where Dick Grayson has a darker side to him.**

 **Please all reviews are welcome!**

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There was one thing everyone knew about Nightwing; he had a past with Deathstroke the Mercenary. But no one knew the details. Not Batman, not batgirl, and not even his best friend Wallace West. Everyone had their theories about what happened but no one knew for sure. M'gann and Connor said that Nightwing had been brain-washed by Psimon and had fought for control, Artemis, Aqualad, and most others believe that Nightwing had been blackmailed, Wally and Jason joked that Deathstroke was in love with Nightwing.

None of the theories were correct because everyone couldn't think that their beloved, little, sarcastic little Robin would go will Deathstroke willingly. But that is where their fatal sin hid. Because the young man that they had all know and love went to the mercenary willingly.

It was coming back into the light that Nightwing had to be convinced to come back too, but by that time he had been changed. He was still Nightwing but there was a difference in his manner. He was darker, more serious, and a force to be reckon with.

Nightwing had stated that he had never wanted to become the Batman, but when he came back from his time with the mercenary, he was worse.

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It was a doomed mission to begin with. The arguments between the team had grown to unknown levels. Everything had turned ugly in the last few months. Tula had recently died, which had set Kaldur on edge. He had only recently come back from a well-deserved break. M'gann and Connor had just broken up, and it was one of the nastiest break ups that the team had gone through. Lagoon Boy had joined the team, along with the New Robin, Jason Todd, and to top it all off, this mission was against several big villains.

There was a tense silence and you could cut it with a dull knife. M'gann kept throwing glances over at Connor who was pointedly ignoring her. Lagoon boy was throwing glances back at M'gann for a totally different reason, and Nightwing and Robin sat in the back talking in muted tones.

"So what happened between those two?" The younger boy asked Nightwing with an uneasy glance from the Martian to the Clone. Nightwing glanced at his brother. This was one of the fourth missions Jason Todd had been on with the team. He had no idea the relationships that went on behind the scenes. There were a lot of relationships that had soured over the year. Raquel and Aqualad hadn't lasted very long, neither had Nightwing and Zatanna.

Nightwing just shook his head and tapped his ear with a nod to Superboy. When someone on the team had super hearing, it wasn't wise to talk about things in such close quarters.

"Fine then," Jason said with an exasperated sigh, "what's so hard about this mission that it needed Aqualad and Superboy?"

Nightwing looked over at his adopted brother. "Did you even listen in the mission briefing?" He said with a smirk. He knew Jason didn't. It was their pre-mission ritual; Jason would ignore the briefing and then have Nightwing fill him in on the way there.

"Do I even have to answer that, Dick head?" Jason said with a sly smile. Dick rolled his eyes at his brother's endearing nickname for him.

"We got intel from an unknown source that high caliber villains , Queen Bee, Vandal Savage, and Ra's Al Ghul were going to pick something up. It is supposedly their top priority," The ebony haired boy said to the younger. Jason knitted his eyebrows together.

"But why would they all flock together like that? Isn't that kind of a stupid move? I mean-"

It was just then that Lagoon boy decided that he just needed to be heard.

"Well isn't it obvious?" Lagoon boy said with a smirk. "They don't think anyone will be there to stop them. They think they're so invincible that no one could be able to find them. But thanks to M'gann we were able to find their meeting from a delivery boy."

Nightwing shot him a calculating glance. This boy really knew nothing about being a hero, did he? Jason looked over at Lagoon boy too. Jason couldn't figure out how someone so stupid could have made it to the team.

"While that might be part of it," Nightwing said quietly, "It is more likely that the object they are attaining is something that requires all three of their skill sets. The warehouse is most likely to be incredibly surrounded and intensely watched."

"That's why it's a recon mission," Connor said pointedly and without any kindness. The team nodded along and everything went back to silence.

"We're approaching the zone. Going into camouflage mode," Miss Martian said with a monotone voice.

"Miss Martian." Aqualad said with a nod, one that Miss Martian understood perfectly.

Everyone here? The green girl asked, and all responded with positive confirmations. Everybody know the plan? Once again the positive affirmations came rolling out.

The martian landed the plane on the roof and the team ran out of the bioship. Superboy and Lagan jumped off the side checking the perimeter, Miss Martian remained in the Bio ship and took to the sky, Aqualad stayed on the roof to watch for any criminals that might sneak up on Lagoon boy, and the two bats headed down into the warehouse to watch the transaction take place.

Little did they know how quickly things were going to change.

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 **Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh My Goodness! Apparently you guys actually like the first chapter even though it was super short! What WHAT? Any who...let the story begin.**

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The protector of Bludhaven dropped down into the seemingly empty warehouse; his boots making no sound as they landed on the harsh metal grate of the catwalk. A cape fluttered down next to the raven haired man and another domino mask looked down on the warehouse. Nightwing held up to fingers and motioned to the other side of the catwalk and then to the other. Jason gave a curt nod and both boys ran to their sides. They sat perched on the railings of the catwalk, waiting for some one or something. Nightwing's eyes glanced down as the warehouse door opened and shadows ran up the wall.

 _Team_ Nightwing said telepathically _We have a sighting one someone. Not sure who. I will try and get a closer look and Jason will be my lookout._ Jason glanced at Nightwing from across the warehouse with a irritated look. Nightwing smirked and shrugged. He needed someone to watch in case the light had their own look out. The bird slowly slid down the catwalk and plopped down into a crouch as he hit the ground. His light blue eyes glanced around as he crawled toward a large crate on the far wall. He peeked over the large crate to see who's shadows had entered the building.

 _Superboy, did you see them enter?_ Nightwing asked cautiously. He wanted to make sure his scouts on the ground were doing their job.

 _Yeah, Four heavy hitters - not sure who thought. And a bunch of lackeys._ Superboy's growl came across in the mind link. Everybody could tell he was perturbed by using the mind link. Nightwing let out a small laugh. Meghan had a lapse of judgement, something that not everyone had expected, but something Nightwing did. She was young and inexperienced had these powers she didn't know she had. A sudden surge of emotion would have triggered it.

Nightwing's eyes surveyed the scene infront of him. There was Ra's Al Ghul, Vandal Savage, Queen Bee, and ...Nightwing narrowed his eyes at the forth personage. It was a man with an orange and black mask. A whole for the eye in the orange side and in the black side was pure nothingness.

 _We have Queen Bee, Vandal Savage, Ra's, and someone in an orange and black mask. Anyone got any bets on who it could be?_ Nightwing sent across the mind link. A range of answers from _Probably no one important_ to _Watch him carefully, Nightwing, he could mean trouble._

Nightwing acknowledge their warnings and slowly and carefully stole closer to the middle of the room to better hear the conversations, then the Queen spoke.

"Do you have what you promised, Ra's?" Her elegant eyes glaring at the seemingly fit middle aged man. Ra's nodded and motioned for the masked man to bring forward a small box. Nightwing looked up at Jason; Jason still holding his gaze on the villains.

As the masked man approach The Queen he held open the box in which three small vials were contained. Nightwing's eyes raised and sent a swift message to the others who were doing their respective job.

 _I've got eyes on three vials. Not sure what they contain._ Nightwing sent a quick picture of what he was seeing through the mind link. He stole a glance from were he was hiding and watched the four villains. The masked man turned his head toward the direction Nightwing was hiding; Nightwing ducked hoping that he had not been seen. _Just might have bee compromised. Get ready to attack-_

But before Nightwing could even finish that thought, both Robin and Lagoon Boy attack. Lagoon Boy rammed in full frontal assault. Robin on the other hand swung down from the rafters, swing into several of The Light's cronies. Nightwing sighed and jumped up from his hiding place only to be slammed into the ground by the masked man. His light eyes darted up behind the mask to see the man standing over him, and he looked bored.

Nightwing rolled out of the way as the masked man swung a heavy broad sword down upon him. He rolled up to his feet and immediately went into his fighting stance. The masked man laughed, but it wasn't a laugh at the same time. It was deep and dark; something that scared children when they heard it at night.

"So who are you? I mean you must be pretty good if the league doesn't know about you," Nightwing said blatantly holding out his eskirma sticks. The masked man laughed again and chills went up Nightwing's spine. This man was an enigma. Then in a flash the masked man was upon him. The sword in his hands slashing down on Nightwing and Nightwing barely defending with his eskirma sticks. Nightwing's suddenly saw a gape in his defenses, his slashing was wild.

The black hair boy ducked underneath the sword and in close to the man. He had meant to elbow him in the side, duck under the sword and kick the man in the back. Unfortunately none of those things happen. His elbow fell upon hair, the sword didn't whish over his hair, and his kick was grabbed; throwing Nightwing off balance.

The man had laid a trap! Nightwing's foot was suddenly twisted and thrown over a shoulder. Nightwing spun, rolled and landed. He turned to see the man simply staring at him.

"That was good. You saw a weakness and you attacked it. The damage done by that attack would have been a broken rib. But you're holding back. You don't know who I am or what I am capable of. So you're testing me. Smart," the masked man finally said. Nightwing was dumbfounded. How had the masked man known this? These had been things Batman had taught him since he was nine years old, and he did them subconsciously.

"So the masked man finally speaks? I was wondering if I had to start calling you The Mute Murderer," Nightwing spouted off, and was surprised when the man actually retorted.

"I was going to start calling you Bird Brain because all you do is squawk," and with those words the man chuckled again. Nightwing had to admit that was good and being outsmarted wasn't something he was used to.

"You know," the man continued, "I could use someone of your skill on my side." Nightwing raised an eyebrow. Was he serious? Was he offering him a job? His eyes flashed darkly for a minute but quickly returned to normal.

"Yeah? I can see it now. Nightwing turned rogue. He went insane! You're dumber than you look if you think I would ever-" Nightwingw as cut off as the man started to laugh. And this time it wasn't the dark chuckle that sent a shiver. No this was a full blown laugh, and the teen couldn't tell what was more terrifying.

"Let's be honest here," the masked man said,"we both know your secret about Zucco."

Nightwing physically paled and any fun loving demeanor left was gone. He instantly cut off the mind connection. Thanks to extensive training this was like turning off a light.

"Tony Zucco's death was a terrible shame. He murdered himself in Arkham two years ago."

"Yes. And that was when the Robins changed didn't it? The first Robin became Nightwing and then he was replaced. A little strange to me, but what do I know Richard?" The masked man said and the ebony haired teen could hear the smirk in his voice. This man knew his identity; which meant he knew Bruce's and Jason's.

He came out of his shock only to find Miss Martian, Robin, Aqualad, and Superboy standing in front of the ex boy wonder.

"Nightwing...?" Miss Martian said a bit worriedly. L'gann was hovered behind her, and he was not looking good.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Let's just head back," he said distractedly looking around.

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When they returned to the base, Nightwing hadn't said anything since they had left. He ignored everyone, and headed straight to him room. No one could tell what was going through the bird's head but they knew that he wasn't alright.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys. I know it's been a while and my writing probably isn't any better. But please forgive me. I had some unfortunate things come up. But I'm back, and I hope you will all enjoy this next chapter**.

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To say that the second encounter with the orange and black masked man went better than the first would ban all out lie. But this time, there were no teammates, no heroes to observe the strangeness of the exhibit. Both men were eager for a fight, both men eager to figure out what the other man's weakness was.

This time they met in Bludhaven. It made sense. The masked man knew that Dick was Nightwing, he knew almost everything about Dick Grayson. It only made sense that the man would come to the hero.

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It was supposedly a regular call. There was nothing out of the normal that might have tipped off the young hero of the dangers he was about to face. His bike sped through the city, narrowly avoiding traffic and running as many red lights as he could. As much as he loved soaring above his city, the Intel had said that there was a gang meeting in an abandon warehouse. How cliché. There were no building to jump across on the docks, it was one of two the parts of the city that had actual room to grow out and not up. This created his current situation of the bike.

NIghtwing ditched the bike in a nearby alley and sank back into the shadows. Contrary to popular belief, he was not a creature of life. But then again he wasn't a creature of shadows either. He lived in the gray. He knew that some things were better left untouched. He knew some people deserved to die, not that he would let anyone know that those dark thoughts plagued his mind.

He found the fire escape and slipped inside the warehouse. He looked in disbelief. The warehouse was unbelievably empty. There weren't boxes piled up in the corner, there was nothing there. It was truly an abandon warehouse. Nightwing surveyed the area quickly. Not a soul in sight.

" _Batman to Nightwing._ "

If Nightwing hadn't been trained as well as he had been, the sudden loud voice that jumped out at him would have scared him shitless. He put a finger to his ear and allowed himself to stand up.

" _What's up Bats?"_ Nightwing responded. His paranoia was getting the best of him. He could feel something was wrong. He decided to duck out of the building and sat on the roof. It was a silent night and it was one of the few he ever received.

" _Have you had any contact with Jason in the last 24 hours?"_ The bat's voice came out appearing cool and collected, but Dick knew something was wrong. There was the slightest hitch in his breath, he had rushed Jason, and he was contacting Nightwing.

The pair of men had recently made up and things were still a bit tender. They hadn't been avoiding each other necessarily; they just hadn't had enough time to work together.

" _I haven't seen him since Saturday training with the team. He seemed a bit peeved at you to tell the truth. Why?"_ The ebony hair man asked through his comm link.

" _It's been 20 hours since I've seen him. I thought he might have come and visited you,"_ Bruce said with a sign of anxiety in his voice. Nightwing heard the small tell-tale voice that was saying something wasn't right.

" _Did you two have an argument again?"_ Nightwing asked casually. Those two fighting was like putting two male tom cats in a cage that neither of them could get out of. The particularly sad thing was they were so much alike that neither of them saw it.

" _Yes."_

Nightwing nodded not surprised. Though he was glad to hear a note of regret emanating from the link.

" _He's probably just blowing off some steam," Dick said ,"Don't worry too much about it. I have to go Bruce."_

A shadow across the roof had just moved, and Dick hadn't. Which meant someone was on the roof with Dick, and he was standing behind him. Moving quickly Nightwing dove forward flipping into a somersault. Then spun around his eskirma sticks in his hands and his eyes darting to the masked figure in front of him.

"It's the Masked Mercenary!" Nightwing said a smile slipping on to his face. He still hadn't found any information on the man. He probably could have asked Batman to look through his villain files but that would have been an arrow to his pride.

"And you are still squawking," The masked man replied with an icy chill in his voice, "So tell me, Nightwing, how do you live being a hero but knowing you murdered Tony Zucco?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nightwing snapped back. But he had reverted to his mask. The mask that he held in place when someone was getting to close to the truth. His teeth had clenched tightly and his white eyes had narrowed. These slight changed would have been missed by a lesser man, but Slade Wilson was not a lesser man.

"Isn't it strange?" The masked man asked looking as if he were on a midnight stroll. "That the very night that Zucco died, the new hero Nightwing appears?"

"Zucco had been getting sick for months. There was nothing anyone could have done to save him." NIghtwing said with his pulse starting to race a little.

"Yes. I suppose that's true. But how does a perfectly healthy man get so sick in a couple of months. You see, Nightwing, while the wardens of the prison might not have been paying attention to his symptoms, I was. All symptoms of Dimethylmercury. Now when would have Tony Zucco come in contact with Dimethylmercury?" The masked mercenary started to explain. His single eye staring down the young hero with a horrible look to it.

"Now only someone with great money and great expense could have purchased this kind of poison. There are exactly two people in Gotham who could have afforded that kind of poison from the black market. Bruce Wayne or some rich bastard. That was the part that caught me Richard. What would those two gentlemen need with a toxic substance? But then Bruce Wayne wouldn't need it, would he? No it would be his ward that needed it. The ward that had never gotten vengeance but had been suffocated with fancy parties and ignored by his adopted father who would never give up his bachelor life." The masked mad continued and he had slowly started pacing. Nightwing couldn't take his eyes away from the man. How could he have known all of this information that no one in the world knew.

"But the question was, Richard, how did the son of a playboy slip dimethylmercury into Zucco's system? It took me a long time to figure out this last clue. But then I saw you one night, you had just become Nightwing and you headed to a grave yard. I expected a dead hero, or a dead relative. But instead I found you at the grave of Tony Zucco. And from your belt, what did you pull? A small vile full of dimethylmercury and being the smart man I am, I put two and two together."

The man concluded his speech. NIghtwing blinked once or twice and had to remind himself to close his jaw.

"So…" Nightwing said composing himself quickly. "What are you gonna do with this information? You know who I am, you know what I have done. What comes next?"

"That's all you have to say?" The man sounded almost disappointed. "It took me two years to work that all out, and all you have to say is what comes next? Disappointing but not unexpected."

"You want me to say good job? To one of my enemies? To a man who has been stalking me for the last two years?" Nightwing said in disbelief. This man couldn't be serious.

"You have a point. Very well you want to know what comes next, Nightwing? I will tell you. You will become my associate. You will join me in building my mercenary empire. And you will become exactly who I know you are. "

Nightwing looked at the man with shock on his face, and then his composure broke. He had doubled up laughing. It wasn't the fake laughter that he associated with villains; it was the true, full blown laughter of someone who has heard something so funny they can't breathe.

"And why would I do that?" Nightwing asked through breaths of laughter. This man was crazier than the joker if he thought that would be happening. "You know who I am right? The golden boy of Batman's? The original Robin? How could you think…? Where did the assumption…?" Nightwing finally straightened up and was still snickering when the masked man responded.

The man raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "I'll tell you why you will join me. Because you will want to. I won't blackmail you. I will not hurt you. You will come to me when you realize that you want too. You will realize the hero life isn't for you."

Nightwing had enough of this masked man, he charged at him. But suddenly smoke enveloped him and when it was cleared there was nobody left to be seen.

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When Nightwing arrived at his apartment he knew something was wrong. His long night of patrol had taken its toll on him and he had ignored all the calls that he had received. He knew it was bad when he looked at his personal answering machine that only few people had the number for. He stripped off his uniform and played the first message.

"Master Dick, Please come to Gotham as soon as possible."

That was strange, Nightwing thought. Alfred always left messages but he never left without saying why he was leaving the message, or leaving his number to call him back at. Dick hung his head. He headed to the nearest Zeta beam and was in Gotham within minutes. He made the long trek to the manor and looked at it with suspicion. Something was wrong. There was no annoying neighbor kid banging at the door saying he had almost pieced together who Batman and Robin were. There were no hounds barking, no sprinklers going. There was only silence.

Dick walked into the manor and turned into the living room. There was Batgirl, and Alfred. The looks on their faces told a great story. Some one had gotten hurt, and badly.

"Master Dick I don't know how to tell you this-"

Nightwing interrupted him quickly. "Where's Bruce? Is he alright? How bad is it?"

Batgirl looked at him. She was cowlless and there were tear tracks running down her face.

"Jason is gone."

"Gone where?"

"No, Dick, Jason is gone. The Joker got him. That bastard murdered him."

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	4. Chapter 4

**So i actually read and reviewed this chapter over the course of the week. I've pretty much been snowed in and haven't been able to do anything. Hopefully because I have had so much time to work on this, I hope it is better.**

 **Also this chapter was really hard to write. I didn't know how to capture the grief and sadness that would accompany Jason's death, but I gave it my best shot.**

 **Enjoy!**

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The silence that had descended upon the manner was suffocating. Dick Grayson had not made a sound since he had heard the news that right now Batman was bringing home the broken bird. Nightwing couldn't breathe, couldn't feel anything but the coldness that was suddenly emanating from his center. He knew the feeling. It was the mask to stop his feelings appearing in full force. Dick pushed the mask away. This was too deep of a cut not to let it be felt. He knew that the longer you didn't feel pain, the harder it was to hide.

Jason...His little Brother...The second Robin...The proud street rat...Jason

There was thundering in his ears. A storm raged across his mind, the chaos was one of the worst he had felt in a long time. The last time he had felt a storm in his mind like this was when he had quit being Robin. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look up at the presence on his shoulder. He had in sometime when he was letting the storm rage on in his brain fallen to his knees. There was a slight throbbing in the base of his knees but it didn't really seem important at the moment.

The presence on his shoulder slowly lifted him up and onto the couch. The old man and the young red-head looked at each other worried. Nightwing had a special bond with every person he came in contact with. That was his thing, its why he was able to remain good friends with his exes, people knew that he could see the good and the bad in everyone. But Jason had especially become close with the older bird. It was a bond over hating and grousing about Bruce. Dick knew that Jason was a good person underneath his hard exterior, and Jason noticed the darkness that seemed to be hidden in Nightwing.

Dick removed his mask and the tears poured from his eyes and suddenly the storm broke in his mind. His silently tears became all out sobs, and yells of pain. It was one of the more horrifying sounds to ever come out and Barbara was next to him pulling him tight. He wasn't the only one who had a tear stained face. Then Nightwing started to compose himself. It wasn't easy but one thought rang out above the chaos of the storm in his head.

 _Bruce cannot become a killer._

Nighwing had become a killer because that's who he was. Nightwing had killed after years of therapy and a healthy life style and yet, Zucco was still dead. He was lying in the ground ten feet under by the former victim's hand.

But Bruce? No. Bruce wouldn't become the killer Nightwing was. His breathing slowed, his tears eventually faded away, and his voice gave no sound. He shoved Barbara away a little harder than he should have but at the current moment he didn't care. He replaced the mask on his face and stared Alfred down.

"Where is he?"

Alfred, for one of the first times that Dick could remember, showed emotion that could not be denied. He was worried and confused.

"He radioed about half an hour ago. He should be here any moment," the butler said cautiously. There were two angers brewing inside Dick and the butler spotted them from a mile away. The first anger had been wet and he had cared. This second anger was dry. There was no pity, no blame, and no fear. This was a dangerous type of anger. Something Dick had inherited from Bruce.

"Let me be the one to address him when he gets home. He won't even want to see me but at this moment Batman needs his the first spark of joy that kept him from the darkness," Dick said with a direct look at both of them. They nodded solemnly. Batman was going to go down a dark and dangerous road, and the only person who could pull him away from that path was a Robin.

Nightwing went to the office that he had played so much in as a child. Bruce had prohibited playing in his work space, but Dick had been born in a circus what did he know about rules? It had taken him two week of playing in the office to find the entrance to the batcave. It was embarrassing really. He had been on one of the book shelves and missed judged his landing. He had stumbled back after his landing and knocked the bust back. There was the button just waiting to be pressed.

Then his life had unfolded before him. He had adopted the mantle of Robin. He had trained with Bruce till his joints were sore. He had learned, fought, and enjoyed every moment of being Robin for the first four years. Then things changed. Then he changed. He was older, wiser, stronger. Bruce and he had started to disagree even more than usual. The arguments started out small but eventually graduated in to full blown feuds that hadn't been resolved for days. In these moments it was when Nightwing was born. Those silent moments when he realized how different Bruce and Dick are.

He stepped into the Batcave his foots steps echoing off the high walls. He didn't care if his stealth needed some work, he wanted to be heard. He wanted to be known. Then his quick blue eyes found the the person who needed him most. Batman-no Bruce- was sitting on the floor cradling Jason's body in his arms. The sight made the original Robin flinch. The body wasn't pretty. There were tons of broken bones, bullet holes, bruises, and abrasions.

Bruce also looked like he had been beaten. His head was hung low and his shoulders heaved with silent cries. He crossed the floor quickly and knelt down in front of the bat. The bat looked up and stony gray eyes met sparkling blue. No words were exchanged, the words spoken between them would have been meaningless. And suddenly the blue bird had Jason's head in his lap, and a hand on Bruce's shoulder. Nightwing let the man cry, holding in these feelings would be the end of everything Bruce had built over the last twenty five years.

It had been a little over an hour of crying over the body, when Bruce finally straightened up. He was red in the face, his eyes were puffy, and he was tired. Nightwing could hear the elevator coming down the shaft and knew that this was the moment.

"Bruce."

Bruce's steely gray eyes glanced toward him then back to his second son.

"Bruce. I know this will be hard for your to hear right now, but you need to listen to me."

Bruce's eyes finally pulled away from his son and the desperation and disappointment had been replaced. It was small but every second the anger and hatred was growing stronger.

"Bruce. You need to feel the anger and hatred that is coming up. You need to feel hurt and feel the loss. But you must do it at Bruce Wayne. Go upstairs, go to sleep, and tomorrow you will smash everything in your office. You will break everything you come in contact with. You will train tomorrow harder than you have ever trained, but at the end of the day, you will not put on your cowl."

Nightwing paused a minute to let the information sink into Bruce. The anger had become worse with these words were spoken. He was going to kill the bastard that murdered his son. There was no way that he was going to let the Joker go this time.

"The Batman will grieve also. But he will do it in his way. He will not be seen for a couple of days, he will not be heard from for a couple of days, and when he comes back he will be angry with the scum of Gotham. But he will not kill. Because even in his lowest moments, Batman is not a killer. He is not as bad as the Gotham villains who will kill to release their feelings. You will be the Batman."

Dick heard the English Butler coming up from behind him.

"The Batman will not kill. Because you have never killed and you never will. You brought us into the manor, because you understood us. You understood the pain and suffering that each of us went through. Jason knew this and I know he respected you for it. So go and Grieve Bruce. But don't grieve as Batman for a while," Nightwing concluded as the Butler appeared behind the pair. Bruce nodded solemnly as Alfred picked up the body and Bruce rose with him.

Nightwing watched their backs retreat and his eyes narrowed. The Batman couldn't kill, but that didn't mean Nightwing couldn't.

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He stood on the roof adjacent of the ice pick lounge. It was the only place in Gotham that was a reliable spot for criminal information, because every criminal in here was so drunk that they didn't realize they were giving away valuable information. He wouldn't go in, that was just plain stupidity. If Nightwing walked in there it would go batshit crazy. The villains would disappear before he could get to the person he needed.

So, what does a hero do when they can't enter a building? They watch the exit.

Dick's blue eyes were glued to the exit. Several people had come and go but he wanted none of them. He was waiting for the one person he knew to be in there. Joker?No. Joker would never be so stupid. He was waiting for the one person the Joker trusted to walk out that door. The one person in the world that would know where the joker was without having to think about it.

Then Nightwing saw her blonde head duck out of the door. He pink and blue make-up a little smeared and looking a bit tipsy.

Nightwing made his move. He sunk into the shadows and slid down to the alleyway that Harley Quinn was now walking out of. She loved the Joker with a strange passion that no one could quite understand. It was a crazy love that only those inside of it understood. But at least they had someone. She would never give the location of the Joker up; she was far too in love with the man. But she was tipsy, tired, and turned on. She would lead Nightwing right to the man that had killed his little brother.

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